ARLINGTON NOTES
| Arlington Park Stakes advance
Stakes Advance: Sea O' Erin Breeders' Cup Mile CAPSIZED LOOKS TO STAY ON COURSE IN SEA O' ERIN BC MILE ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. (Sept. 27, 2002) -- Graded stakes winner Capsized may rule a mild choice when facing seven rivals in the $150,000 Sea O' Erin Breeders' Cup Mile Sunday on the turf at Arlington Park. The race, which includes $50,000 from Breeders' Cup fund for eligible horses, serves as a final local prep for the $1 million NetJets Breeders' Cup Mile which will be run here Oct. 26 when the World Thoroughbred Championships come to Chicago for the first time in their 19-year history. The Sea O' Erin and the Grade II $400,000 Washington Park Handicap, also on Sunday's 10-race card, will be shown live on NBC as part of a 90-minute "NTRA Road to the World Thoroughbred Championships" telecast that begins at 3:30 p.m. Central time. Capsized, who races for the partnership of Stonerside Stable LLC & Gold Spur Stable, won the Grade III Fourstardave Handicap over a sloppy main track at Saratoga Race Course on Aug. 24. The race was initially carded for the turf where the son of Summer Squall had captured his previous start one month earlier. The 6-year-old horse is graded stakes placed on the lawn, finishing third over that surface in the Grade II Appleton Handicap at Gulfstream Park in January and second there in the Grade III Canadian Turf Handicap a month later. He also ran third in the Grade III Fort Marcy Handicap at Aqueduct in April. Trainer Lisa Lewis has secured Hall-of-Fame reinsman Gary Stevens to ride Capsized, who will carry 116 pounds in the Sea O' Erin. From the rail out, the field for the Sea O' Erin, with jockey and weight assignment, is: James D. Tilton Jr.'s Noble Ruler (Jorge Chavez, 114 pounds); Team Block's Mystery Giver (Rene Douglas, 116); John Castro's Al's Dearly Bred (Seth Martinez, 115); Mrs. & Michael P. Brickman's Smilin' Slew (Earlie Fires, 115); Sondra D. Bender's Buenos Dias (Horatio Karamanos, 117); Diamond C Stables' Pisces (Robby Albarado, 116); Capsized; and Coast To Coast Racing Fund LLC's Mercenary (Frank Lovato Jr., 114). Starting highweight at 117 pounds is Buenos Dias, who employed front-stepping tactics when taking top honors in the $50,000 Lure Stakes at Pimlico earlier this month. Previously, the Lawrence Murray-trained son of Mt. Livermore captured the $75,000 Independence Day Handicap at Mountaineer Park and last year won the $100,000 Pennsylvania Governor's Cup at Penn National. Illinois-bred Mystery Giver, who finished last of nine in the Grade I Arlington Million last month, looks to rebound from that effort in the Sea O' Erin. The son of Dynaformer beat fellow state breds in the $90,450 Cardinal Handicap here in June and endured a tough trip when finishing fifth in the Grade III $225,000 Arlington Handicap the following month. Earlier this year, he bested open rivals in the $150,000 Fair Grounds Breeders' Cup Handicap in New Orleans. Appleton Handicap hero Pisces looks for his third graded stakes score of the year. In addition to the Appleton, he was adjudged the victor of the Grade III Louisville Handicap at Churchill Downs in June after the disqualification of Two Point Two Mill in that mile and three-eighths turf test. In two starts since, the son of Prized ran second in the Grade III Stars and Stripes Breeders' Cup Turf here on July 6 and was second in the Grade III Miami Mile Breeders' Cup at Calder Race Course earlier this month. - END - |